Harold and the Purple Crayon

Harold and the Purple Crayon Movie Details:

Based on	Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Release Date	August 2, 2024
Running Time	1hr 32min
Age rating	PG
Cast	Zachary Levi Lil Rel Howery Zooey Deschanel
Directed by	Carlos Saldanha
Written by	David Guion Michael Handelman
Produced by	John Davis
Cinematography by	Gabriel Beristain
Edited by	Tia Nolan
Music by	Batu Sener
Production Companies	Columbia Pictures Davis Entertainment
Distributor	Sony Pictures Releasing

Harold and the Purple Crayon Movie Cast & Characters:

• Zachary Levi as Harold, a man who has had a magical purple crayon since his childhood which makes whatever he draws come to life
• Lil Rel Howery as Moose, a moose who is one of Harold’s friends and becomes human in the real world
• Benjamin Bottani as Mel, Terri’s son who befriends Harold
• Zooey Deschanel as Terri, a single mom, and Harold’s possible love interest
• Jemaine Clement as Gary, a man who gets a hold of a piece of Harold’s crayon to use for evil
• Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine, a porcupine who is one of Harold’s friends and becomes human in the real world
• Alfred Molina as The Narrator
• Ravi Patel as Prasad
• Camille Guaty as Junior Detective Silva
• Pete Gardner as Detective Love
• Seth Robbins as Oscar

Storyline:

Inside of his book, adventurous Harold (Zachary Levi) can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life—and that his trusty purple crayon may set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible. When the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands, it will take all of Harold and his friends’ creativity to save both the real world and his own.

About Harold and the Purple Crayon Movie:

Harold and the Purple Crayon is an American live-action/animated fantasy film directed by Carlos Saldanha from a screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, based on the 1955 children’s book of the same name by Crockett Johnson.

The film stars Zachary Levi in the titular role, with Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, and Zooey Deschanel in supporting roles. The film serves as a sequel to the original book, where, after the adventurous Harold grows up with his magical purple crayon and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, he finds that he has a lot to learn about real life.

In 1992, John B. Carls formed the family-film production company, Wild Things Productions, with Maurice Sendak, writer and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are. They acquired rights to other children’s books, including Harold and the Purple Crayon and whose author Crockett Johnson, was a mentor to Sendak. Sendak and Denise Di Novi were producers.

About 1994, Michael Tolkin was brought in to write the script and Henry Selick was to direct, but Selick moved on to James and the Giant Peach for Walt Disney Pictures.

Carls picked Spike Jonze to develop the film, a combination of live action and animation. A budget of $25 million to almost $50 million was mentioned in the press. David O. Russell was brought in to help with rewrites.

Multiple screenplays, casting, storyboards, and animation work started but Jonze had to abandon the project after more than a year working on it when new management at TriStar Pictures stopped it, two months before principal photography was to begin.

In February 2010, it was reported that Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation and Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment were developing a CGI-animated film adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon, to be produced by Smith and James Lassiter, and written by Josh Klausner.

In December 2016, it was reported that the film would also be written by Dallas Clayton. The film would still be produced by Columbia Pictures and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

On February 1, 2021, it was reported that Zachary Levi would star in the film, though it was not stated what role he would play.

It was also announced that Carlos Saldanha was attached to direct the new film, and that David Guion and Michael Handelman replaced Klausner and Clayton as screenwriters, with John Davis producing under his Davis Entertainment banner.

Lil Rel Howery was announced as part of the cast on January 11, 2022. Zooey Deschanel and Ravi Patel were added in February 2022. Camille Guaty was cast on March 1, 2022. Tanya Reynolds and Pete Gardner joined in May 2022.

Around the beginning of 2022, live-action filming was taking place in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Little has been announced about the plot or what roles the actors play.

Sony Pictures showed footage from the film as part of an upcoming release’s sizzle reel at CinemaCon in April 2022.

Harold and the Purple Crayon was released in theaters on August 2, 2024. It was originally scheduled to be released on January 27, 2023, and June 30, 2023.

Budget & Box Office Collection:

Budget	$40 million
Domestic Opening	$6,003,197
Domestic collection	$13,985,241
International collection	$5,086,820
Worldwide Collection	$19,072,061